Art Institute lays off some 65 staffers

The Art Institute of Chicago laid off approximately 65 members of its museum staff last week, the second round of layoffs at the museum since June 2009, when 22 employees were cut.

President and director James Cuno announced in a town hall-style meeting Thursday that approximately 50 security managers would be relieved, with the option to re-apply for their positions.

An additional 15 staff members, or 2 percent of the museum's total staff, were laid off within departments ranging from museum education to retail operations and the facility's physical plant.

The layoffs are the result of a massive budget deficit, according to an internal statement issued by the Art Institute on May 18, which cited a "budget shortfall for the fiscal year 2010" due to endowment losses, and forewarned of "implementing further cost-cutting measures throughout 2010," including continued salary freezes.

Museum spokeswoman Erin Hogan explained that with the Art Institute's endowment down as much as 23.8 percent in fiscal year 2009, cutbacks were made with next year's budget in mind.

Endowment-related layoffs are hardly a unique phenomenon. Dewey Blanton, spokesperson for the American Association of Museums, said he "couldn't even count" the number of museums he's heard of being affected in the past fiscal year. "Museums as rich as the [J. Paul] Getty [in Los Angeles] and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, perhaps the two richest museums in world, have had to have layoffs," he said.

According to Hogan, there are no additional layoffs scheduled at this time.

When asked whether the museum's Modern Wing, completed last spring with a $294 million price tag, added to the debt, Hogan said no. "If anything," she said, "increased attendance will be up, so the Modern Wing has actually helped us considerably."